NM State women look to get even with Seattle U Tuesday afternoon

Opening Tip
• The Aggies will look to even the score in round two of the season series with the Redhawks when Seattle U makes the trip down to Las Cruces for the make-up contest on Tuesday afternoon.
• NM State and Seattle U should be somewhat familiar with each other as this will be the second time the two programs do battle in a span of just three days.
• Fans can only hope this contest lives up to the expectations these two set the last time they shared the court as a last-second three-pointer from Soufia Inoussa sent the game into overtime before the Redhawks ultimately prevailed, 81-73 after a single extra period.
• The loss marked the ninth time the Aggies have fallen on the road this season and moved the Redhawks' home record to 4-6 on the year.
• Contrary to the troubles the Aggies have faced while away from Las Cruces, the Aggies have posted an impressive 6-2 record inside the Pan American Center this season.
• This will be the 68th WAC contest in which Brook Atkinson will be at the helm as the Aggies have compiled a league record of 43-24 during her tenure, including two regular-season WAC titles.
• The Aggies and Redhawks have now previously met 24 different times with the Aggies in command of the series with an all-time record of 16-8 against Seattle U, including a nine-game winning streak spanning from 2014-17.
• The Aggies have been most successful versus the Redhawks when at home, posting a 9-3 record in the Pan Am compared to a 4-4 record inside the Redhawk Center.
• Including the outcome in Seattle, the Aggies are now in 10th place in the conference standings while Seattle U sits in 13th place in the 13-team league.
 
The Nitty Gritty
• Head Coach Brooke Atkinson leads one of the WAC's top rebounding teams as the Aggies rank first in the conference in rebounding margin, out-rebounding opponents by 4.9 boards per game. This mark is also good for the 59th-best in the nation.
• The Aggies also rank first in rebounding margin in league contests as, on average, they collect seven more rebounds than their opponents in WAC games.
• The Aggies also hang their hats on shooting efficiency as they rank third in the conference in field goal percentage by way of shooting at a 41.8 percent clip this season. This number also ranks 101st out of 358 Division I programs in the nation.
• The Aggies also rank in the top five among WAC team in free throw percentage (4th, .703), rebounds per game (3rd, 37.89), scoring margin (5th, 3.8), scoring offense (3rd, 67.7), turnover margin (4th, +0.79) and turnovers forced per game (5th, 17.37)
• NM State is led in scoring by graduate transfer Bigue Sarr who ranks tied for 10th in the WAC in points per game (13.6) and fourth in rebounds per game (7.9). Sarr also posts a field goal percentage of 55.1 percent to rank fourth in the league and 24th in the nation in that category.
 
Scouting the Redhawks | Roster | Schedule | Statistics
• In the victory over the Aggies on Saturday, the Redhawks were powered by their dynamic backcourt of Bree Calhoun and McKenzie Williams who each scored 25 points to combine for 50 of the Redhawks' 81 points.
• Additionally, Calhoun recorded a game-high four steals for the opposing Redhawks.
• As the previous statistic would speak to, Calhoun is one of the conference's top defenders as she ranks inside the top four in total steals (4th, 52) and steals per game (3rd, 2.60).
• Calhoun is also the WAC's top assister, leading the conference in total assists with 90 and assists per game with 4.5.
• The Saturday evening matchup will be a display of two strong opposing forces as the Aggies' offense ranks near the top in field goal percentage while Seattle U's defense is among the WAC's best in field-goal percentage defense as they allow teams to shoot just under 38 percent per outing to rank second in the conference.
• The Redhawk defense is also outstanding at coming up with steals as they rank third in the conference in steals per game at 9.3.
• As a team, the Redhawks come in at third in the WAC in blocks per game (3.6) while also ranking fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.83) and fourth in rebounds per game (37.86).
• The Redhawks are led by 24-year head coach Suzy Barcomb who is currently in her sixth season with Seattle U.
 
Last Time Out | NM State 73, Seattle U 81 | Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
• The Redhawks ended their five-game losing skid as they used a 13-0 run during overtime to finish off the Aggies in Seattle.
• The Aggies were led in the scoring column by Bigue Sarr for the eighth time this season as the graduate student scored 22 points while also pulling down 13 rebounds to record her sixth double-double of the season.
• Soufia Inoussa and Molly Kaiser also entered double-digits as Inoussa finished with 13 points and six rebounds while Kaiser posted 11 points.
• This marked the third time in the last three contests that the Aggies had a trio of scorers reach double-digits.
• With the help of Sarr's 13 boards, the Aggies dominated the glass as they outrebounded the Redhawks 45-32.
• They also led in the category of second-chance points as they got 18 points off second opportunities compared to the Redhawks' nine.
• The Redhawks' tandem of Bree Calhoun and McKenzie Williams combined for 50 on 48 percent shooting from the field.
• Despite the loss, Saturday's scoring total was the fourth highest for the Aggies this season. Also, the Aggies' performance from deep (8 made 3FG) was one of their more impressive showings this year as they have only drained more three-pointers in a game once this season.
• On the other hand, the Aggies committed 25 fouls inside the Redhawk Center on Saturday, marking the most fouls committed for NM State this season.
 
Up Next
• The Aggies' game following Tuesday will be their first-ever meeting with WAC opponent Dixie State.
• The Trailblazers joined the league in 2020-21, however, Dixie State chose to opt out of the season last year, thus canceling the originally scheduled series between the Aggies and Trailblazers.
• The contest versus Dixie State will also be the second home game among a stretch of mostly home tilts for the Aggies. Including Tuesday's matchup, six of the Aggies' upcoming seven games will be played in Las Cruces.
 
Sights on Six
NM State will seek its sixth WAC regular-season title since the 2014-15 season. Including this season, the Aggies are 83-22 in conference play across the past seven seasons.
 
Preseason Picks
NM State was picked to finish in seventh place in the WAC Coaches' Poll while the media selected the Aggies to land in sixth this season.
 
The WAC media also selected junior guard Soufia Inoussa to the Second Team All-WAC list.
 
Bringing Home the Hardware
Following her final season with the Aggies, Aaliyah Prince earned Second Team All-WAC and WAC All-Defensive Team honors. Prince finished the season ranked 11th in the league in steals per game while ranking 13th in points per game.